“Sailor V Kick!” I exclaimed.  I paused for three seconds and then repeated, “Sailor V, KICK!”  This time, I slightly altered my tone of voice.  I glanced towards the engineering booth, and was given a nod.  “SAILOR V, KICK!!!” I shouted with all my might.

 “Very good, Aino-san,” came the director’s voice through her headset.  “Now, try an ‘umph’ after you say ‘kick’.  Like you’re really exerting yourself.”

 I nodded.  I waited for the signal, and then shouted, “SAILOR V, KICK! Mmph!”  One, two, three, I silently counted to myself.  Then I said it again.  “Sailor V, KICK!”  I tried to combine the word ‘kick’ with the ‘umph’.

 “Good, Aino-san,” approved the director.  “Everyone, let’s take a break.  Be back in five.”

 Outside the recording booth, Makoto said admiringly, “That looks like so much fun.”

 I grinned at my friend.  “It gets kind of boring, because of the repetition, sometimes.  I mean, how many different ways can you say ‘Sailor V, Kick’?”

 “Yeah, but still.  Being the voice for Sailor V.”  Rei had come along to the recording session, too, in the hopes of obtaining some cels for her collection.

 There was to be a new Sailor V video game, and I had been contacted to provide the voice of Sailor V for various sound clips which would be incorporated into it.  Of course, I was thrilled at the chance.  It was fun not only having been the real Sailor V, but also having the opportunity to be the animators’ model and the seiyuu.  Speaking of which...

 “I heard you wanted to be a seiyuu, too,” I remarked to Rei.  “Maybe if they need any extras...?”

 “I wouldn’t want to impose,” said Rei, but her eyes sparkled at the thought.

 “Would you prefer to voice a demon or a passer-by?” grinned Makoto.

 “Let’s see.  Rei the Demon.  Arrrggggghhhh!” She growled ferociously, and Makoto and I laughed.  “Or we have Rei the passer-by.  ‘Aiiiiiii! A youma!’”  She fluttered her hands in mock terror.

 “Or what about, ‘Oooo! It’s Sailor V! She’s come to save us!’” squealed Makoto, clasping her hands and trying to look like an adoring fan.

 “Never fear!  It’s me, Sailor V!” I said gruffly, pitching my voice two octaves lower and striking a pose.

“Heehee!  Come on, I think Bunkeishi-san brought blueberry nut muffins to the studio today.  Maybe there are still some left in the commons room.”

 “All right, but don’t forget you promised we’d visit the animation department and see if we could get any cels!” reminded Makoto as we made our way onwards.

***
 Lady Taurus sat thoughtfully at the kitchen table.  Lord Libra and Lady Capricorn were playing double solitaire next to her.  “Sailor V?” she inquired, looking at the back of one of the jokers.  The playing cards had a picture of the superheroine posing on the back.

 “She’s very popular here,” explained Lord Libra.  “Or so I’ve noticed.  She’s got her own manga, her own movie, her own soda, her own playing cards... all kinds of stuff.”

 “Is she for real?” asked Lady Capricorn.

 “That’s the funny thing, I haven’t quite decided for myself,” explained Lord Libra.  “If she is real, then she was active in England a few years back.  But she’s kind of faded from existence for some reason.  And if she is real, the real Sailor V hasn’t exactly given her permission to be put in a manga, in a movie, on the backs of playing cards... no one knows who she is.”

 “Sailor this, Sailor that,” grumbled Lady Capricorn, carefully laying down a red jack on a black queen.
“There are too many sailors in this country.  In this universe.”

 “I wonder...” mused Lady Taurus.  “Do you think I could somehow take advantage of Sailor V’s popularity to gather energy?  I mean, it would be pretty random... what do you think?”

 “I hear that there’s a new Sailor V video game expected soon,” said Lord Aries as he entered the kitchen.  He pulled a can of Sailor V soda from the refrigerator and laughed.  “You might want to try and look into that?”

 “Sounds good,” said Lady Taurus.  “I do believe I will.”

***
 “I hear there are some kids around the studio today,” I commented to Bunkeishi, who was one of the mixers.  We were back at the recording booth, waiting for business to commence once again.  “Is there a tour going on or something?”

 “It’s the kids from the St. Monica’s Children’s Home,” he replied through a mouthful of muffin.

“They’re going through the animation studio first, and then will stop by and watch the goings-on here.

And then they’ll stop by the viewing room and watch a ten-minute clip from the Sailor V movie.”

 “Speaking of which, how’s the script coming along for Sailor V’s Mountain Adventure?” I inquired, referring to the tentative new movie.

 “Actually, it’s been revamped to Sailor V’s Island Adventure.  There’s been a lot of progress in the storyboards, so I hear.”

 “Does Sailor V find true love at last?” I inquired, only half-jokingly.  I hoped there would be a cute male seiyuu to work with...

 “I’m not in the storyboard department,” apologized Bunkeishi, fiddling with some controls.  “You might want to stop by and check things out, though, after work today.”

 “I think I will,” I agreed.  “I’m really looking forward to doing a full-length movie, and not just ‘oh!’ and ‘umph!’”

 “People, can we get back to work now?” inquired the director.  “Aino-san, let’s go ahead and do ‘oh!’ a few times.  You know, a monster suddenly appears from nowhere.  Sailor V gasps in surprise.”

 “Oh!” I gasped.  “Oh!”  This time, it was more of a hissing intake of break.  “Oh!”  A startled squeal.  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed four small uniformed children staring in at me through another glass window.  A tall woman dressed like a nun was with them.  Those must be the orphans from St. Monica’s, I thought, giving them a cheerful wave and smiling at them.  “OH!” Shock and frustration dripped from my voice this time.  I gave them the Sailor V signal, and one of them waved back at me.  Poor kids.  It must be terrible, not having any parents, or a foster family to take care of them.  Mako-chan doesn’t have any parents-- “Oooh!”  The sound of a dangerous, cornered Sailor V!  --I’m so lucky to have Mom and Dad.  They get in the way sometimes, yeah.  Especially when I need to be Sailor Venus... it’s terrible being a sailor-suited superheroine with homework and parents to tiptoe around!  “Oh!” With a slight edge of a growl appended to it.  I suppose that’s why parents are so often so conveniently written out of anime and manga.  Technicalities that just get in the way!  And we’re given animals to watch over us.  Like Artemis or something, to provide us with guidance and assume that role.
“Ohhh!”  This time, it was a drawn-out, pouty “oh”.

 “I think that’ll do for now, Aino-san,” said the director.

 Suddenly, something didn’t feel quite right.  I felt a strange presence within the studio.  I glanced at my friends and saw them looking around intently, too, trying to detect its source.  I decided that it would probably be one of those Minions again, and my suspicion was confirmed when I saw Makoto and Rei suddenly bolt.  I tried to figure out a way to go help them.

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